


don't lose faith

by Story_Writer



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:16:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Story_Writer/pseuds/Story_Writer
Summary: naruto was alone for... well, for as long as he can remember, and he's survived. in a sense. but he doesn't like being alone, and wants so desperately to be accepted by the village... but when he meets the famous 9 bijuu, he realizes that maybe he doesn't need the entire village to like him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so i worked for a little while on this. 
> 
> hope you enjoy! oh, for anyone who reads this, what would you guys think of a igneel/natsu fanfic??? i'm thinking that'll be my next project, after i finish everything i'm working on.

Naruto had never considered himself a… crook. 

He stole to survive. He was raised in an orphanage, he didn’t know who, or even what his parents were. Yeah, animal people lived in amongst humans. They lived in harmony, mostly. 

But anyway, the orphanage had forced him out, at 10. Now, he was freaking 16 and he was on his own. He lived in the woods surrounding konoha. He had a small base of operations he had set up. He literally only stole enough to get by, and most of the time people didn’t notice he was stealing shit…

They still hated him, like everyone. The other kids didn’t, surprisingly. But the adults seemed to want him dead.

Whatever, he didn’t need em.

He sighed, walking along strolling along the rooftops. He couldn’t go through the streets without people trying to kill him with glares alone(one or two had actually tried to kill him, he learned to watch himself fast) and the kids, teenagers like him, wondering why their parents hated him.

Naruto sighed, but didn’t miss the proceedings around him. It was lively, and he kinda liked it… he didn’t always steal, he actually did honest work for those that would allow such a thing. He was hoping to enjoy the festivities. He just wondered what it was about….

Finally, naruto just sat on one of the higher roofs to watch the proceedings. People might think of him as a ‘monster’ as he’d heard himself be called, but he did enjoy watching the people just move about.

He didn’t notice the visitors, he was getting lax… but then he heard a scoff.

He whipped his head around, “you’re who they’re scared of?” a boy, same age as him, snorted.

Naruto sighed but sat back. The fellow teen looked like a bitch, to be honest. He had dark black hair, pale skin, and wore blue shirt and pants. Naruto caught the uchiha crest on his chest, naruto was surprised but didn’t show it.

He also didn’t act surprised by the others that came out, not surrounding him but behind the uchiha boy.

Naruto scoffed but sat back and closed his eyes.

They didn’t leave. Naruto could sense that, and it was so annoying. Finally, he groaned. “What the hell do you guys want?” naruto snapped, glaring at them all. A girl, pink haired, stepped forward.

“We wanted to know why the village seems to hate you.” she said, and if naruto didn’t already know he was gay he’d be attracted he was sure…

“Don’t know, ask your parents.” naruto said, turning back to the proceedings, there were finally carts being dragged by. Naruto’s eyes widened, he practically bounced where he sat.

“What?” a boy who looked generally bored with the lot of them.

“Don’t you know who they are?!” naruto asked, they all shook their heads. Naruto gasped. “How the hell… they’re the bijuus!” naruto exclaimed. They all widened their eyes.

The bijuu were famous man-creatures. Some of the most powerful. Some call them siblings or some shit, which was possible.

They all had a different number of tails from one to nine. 

First, with one tail was shukaku.

Second was matatabi. The only woman in the group.

Third was isobu, a turtle.

Forth was an ape, son goku.

Fifth was kokuo, basically a horse.

Sixth was saiken, a slug… naruto didn’t care for him much.

Seventh was chomei, a big beetle.

Eighth was gyuki, a bull. 

Finally, the supposed leader and the most powerful of them all, and naruto’s personal favorite, was kurama. A fox. 

They all were extremely powerful, but naruto liked kurama because… well, reasons.

He was excited, they usually stayed near konoha, konoha offering them shelter without bugging them about staying there to help them in the war.

Naruto looked around the roofs for a second, and noticed 2 ninja on the farther side… aimed at kurama…

Naruto didn’t think about it, though he was sure he should’ve.

The two ninja launched at kurama, who seemed unimpressed by them, but naruto didn’t process that this powerful being could take care of himself.

Naruto simply put himself in front of kurama, both ninja and fox looked surprised, naruto would’ve been surprised. But he had two kunai in his arms.

“Fucking idiot kid.” he heard kurama curse behind him, the two ninja were retreating, obviously expecting to try a hit and run. “What the fuck is your problem?!” kurama exploded, but naruto grimaced, the pain in his arms was bad, but thankfully it wasn’t poison… he hoped.

“I’m sorry… uh, kurama, yes?” naruto asked, turning to the fox, who just looked mad… and concerned? Whatever. “I apologize for jumping in, i don’t know what came over me.” naruto apologized, noticing the people gathering, whispering. Naruto grimaced, “i’ll leave you alone.” he promised, getting to run. He didn’t need this attention.

He was turned and prepared to jump to the roof tops, but his arm was grabbed. “Wait, let the medical ninja’s look over your arms.” kurama said, and naruto chuckled weakly.

“No, it’s fine just a scratch. I’ve had worse.” and he had had worse, people had sliced his leg up, and it took him sometimes weeks to heal, and during that time he hardly ate.

“Naruto-” naruto cut him off, ignoring the fact this guy knew his name.

“Look, i appreciate the concern, ok? But i’ve looked after myself for years, i don’t need help for something this small.” naruto said before shaking off the man’s arm, he decided, rather suddenly, not to use the roofs. He shoved his hands in his packets, ignoring the pain it caused, and walked away. 

The moment he got back to the place he called home, a small tree fort that could be mistaken as a kids play house, he got his first aid kit out. It wasn’t much, just enough to care for basic injuries. 

After tending to his wounds, he rested. God why had he done that?! Not only was kurama more than capable of protecting himself, but the other bijuu or whatever, could help as well. Naruto sighed, god the village would hate him even more now!

He sighed but accepted it, going to sleep early, trying to ignore the pain… and the growl in his stomach, he hadn’t eaten that day..  
______________________________________________________________________________  
Naruto groaned when waking, god the pain in his arm wasn’t that bad, really. He’d had worse. But sleeping in this shack… it was literally killing his back. Naruto sighed but took the small bag of money he had gathered in his helpings around the village. He needed more bandages and some food… he would prefer not to have to steal anything, not after yesterday.

He sighed as he walked through the village, ignoring the whispers he knew were pointed at him. And the hateful glares sent his way. He also ignored completely the other kids following him.

He stopped first to get something to eat, just bread some meat. Nothing special, but he’d save it for after his arms felt like they weren’t on fire. He went to the one shop that would sell him anything, and bought some salves to lessen the pain. The kids were still following him. Naruto sighed but sat down on a bench, people glared at him, but he ignored it. He also noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that the kids had finally left him alone. 

He sighed in relief, polishing off the meat. He was about to dig into the bread, but was stopped by a tug on his arm. There was a little kid, no more than ten, and he was dirty, there were a lot of poor families in the town, and about 20 orphans… there were also about 10 kids that ran around the town, no parents, no one to watch over them. 

“S-sir.. Can you spare some food?” the kid asked softly, and naruto broke. He nodded, ignoring the more intense stares, not glares. Just people watching him so intently. 

“Of course, buddy. Here.” he said, giving him the bread he had. He would be damned if he put his own needs above a kid. “I’m sorry that i can’t help more.” he said quietly, the kid just smiled.

“Thank you mister.” he yelled while running off. Naruto smiled, he would help however he could.

“That was nice of you.” naruto jumped, whipping his head around, and of course there stood kurama, the fox smiling gently.

Naruto calmed down, but didn’t miss the once again gathering crowd. “Well… i can’t let a kid starve.” naruto said, shrugging. 

“Even if it means you might starve instead?” kurama asked. Naruto smiled.

“Even then, yes.” naruto agreed. Kurama just smiled. 

“Well, i was… worried about you.” kurama said, and naruto blinked.

“Worried.” naruto started. “About me?” he finished. Kurama just nodded. Naruto could couldn’t help it, he chuckled. Kurama snapped his head up. 

“No, people don’t get worried about me. Maybe you felt a little guilty, if anything. But people don’t care about me, man. I’m alone and i accept that.” naruto said easily, and he had. He didn’t like it, he liked interacting with other people. But they didn’t like him. And he had accepted that. 

“What do you mean people don’t care about you?” kurama asked, and naruto snorted.

“Really? Do you not see the looks on all of these people’s faces? They hate me, and i don’t know why. I just got dealt a bad hand in this life, can’t be helped.” naruto said shrugging. Kurama looked around the little group of people watching, it wasn’t many just 10 or so, plus the other teens.

“Don’t you live in the orphanage?” kurama asked quietly, and naruto smiled sadly, sitting back down, he wouldn’t leave just because this guy was curious about his life… but he would deny enjoying being able to talk to someone without being hated, or judged.

“No, they kicked me out when i was 10. Called me a monster, and through me out. Only had the clothes on my back.” naruto said, kurama sat next to him, furred leg rubbing his clothed one. 

“They… goddamn it the hokage promised me.” kurama hissed under his breath, naruto blinked.

“What?” naruto asked, kurama blinked. 

Then he schooled his feature, at least somewhat. “Nothing, i… i’m sure you’ll hate me for saying it, but i’m sorry this happened to you.” kurama said, and naruto just shrugged.

“Can’t be helped, i get by. I do my best.” he said, and kurama seemed to hesitate. 

“How did you get by?” the uchiha boy said, from off to the side. Naruto sighed, looking around… the other villagers, the shopkeepers, were gonna yell at him. That he knew.

“I did what i had to.” naruto said simply, and everyone everyone blinked at that.

“You.. you haven’t killed anyone have you?” a girl with dark blue hair and pale eyes asked.

Naruto blinked, but shook his head fast. “Oh no, nothing like that!” naruto said quickly, he hadn’t. He would’ve been justified in a couple scenarios. But he didn’t.

Finally the crowd dispersed. Leaving only him and kurama, naruto was… strangely ok with that.

Naruto sighed but leaned back, and glanced at kurama who seemed to just enjoy being there with him… naruto kept his scoff in his head.

“So… why are you really worried about me?” naruto asked, because there seemed to be something under the covers there, that he didn’t know about. Kurama sighed. “I’ll… i’ll tell you, but i can’t do it in public.” he said, and naruto nodded.

“Should we do it like somewhere private, or like at your place or something?” naruto asked, and kurama hesitated. 

“I suppose… the others hearing about this won’t hurt.” he said, and naruto smiled getting up.

Naruto followed kurama… into the woods. Naruto was confused but followed, if needed he could run away… he was good at that kind of thing.

Finally, the woods opened into a clearing, and naruto blinked at the giant structure… how had he not noticed this in the woods!?

“Oh my god.” naruto said without thinking, staring up at the giant structure in awe. Kurama chuckled.

“Yeah, it’s impressive. But this isn’t even the best part.” kurama said, smirking smugly. Naruto blinked, but took the bait. 

“Well, if this isn’t the best, what is?” naruto asked, because this was the biggest building he’d ever seen. It was bigger than the hokage's building.

“You’ll see, first we should have that talk…” kurama seemed hesitant. Naruto smiled.

“I don’t know why you seem to care, but at the very least if it helps i promise i won’t hate you. I may be pissed, upset. But i promise not to hate you. You seem like an ok person.” naruto said, and kurama seemed to relax.

Kurama led them inside, and naruto was impressed with the inside. It was just as big as the outside(duh). Somehow it seemed bigger though. The other bijuu were there. They all turned their heads when the door opened.

“Hey kurama welco-” gyuki, the bull(he looked like an octopus….) stopped, staring at naruto, who just rubbed his arm. They were all looking at him, minus kurama.

“Hello, and who are you?” shukaku, the… racoon? That’s what he kind of looked like.

“Uh.. a friend of kurama’s?” he said hesitantly, kurama nodded.

“This is naruto, i have somethings to talk to him about, i’ll tell you guys later.” he promised, they all nodded, turning back to what they were doing before they walked in.

Kurama lead him up the stairs into a bedroom, it was near plain, but big. There was a king size bed in the far left corner, a dresser, and wardrobe, and what looked like a walk in closet.

“So.. i guess i should just start in on it?” kurama said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Naruto just smiled, nodding.

Kurama sighed but sat down on the bed, naruto noticed a desk with a chair by it, he opted to sit in it instead of on the bed with kurama.

“Well… do you know who your parents are?” he asked, and naruto just shook his head. “Of course they wouldn’t tell you that.” he muttered under his breath. “Your parents… at least the father was the hokage.” he said, kurama continued, “the previous one, actually. I was following my instincts, and it led me here. I… i found my mate, but he was just a kid… i talked about it with the parents, and they agreed that if the child was willing when they were 18, i would be a loud to be with him. But… the parents were assassinated. I.. i don’t know why, or who did it. But that left the kid alone… i decided it would be better to leave him alone, give him a chance to make his own decision… the… the kid was you, naruto.” kurama said, quietly, and naruto just sat quietly.

Finally, he just gave up fighting it, and let out a ragged sigh. “God that’s a lot to take in.” naruto said, and kurama chuckled humorlessly.

“I know… i… i’m sorry.” kurama whispered. Naruto flinched, he didn’t hate the guy… he kind of understood. 

Before he could think better of it, he was up and walking towards kurama who looked slightly scared. Naruto hated himself for making someone look at him like that.

He did it before he could fight himself on it. He hugged kurama, wrapping his arms around the fox, who tensed in his hold. “Like i said, i don’t hate you, ok? I… i don’t really know what to feel. I’m confused, but i’m not even mad let alone do i hate you.” naruto whispered. When kurama finally hugged him back, naruto felt amazing. He didn’t really get what being kurama’s… mate meant.

It couldn’t hurt to ask…

“So… i… what is a mate?” naruto asked quietly, kurama seemed surprised by the question, but naruto just sat next to, but not quite touching, the fox man. 

“Well… i think for humans it would be closer to a marriage, in a way. But it’s deeper than that. My instinct was to go to you, and it is hard as hell to ignore it. Naruto, i promise i never meant to hurt you. Your parents were good people, and i thought of myself as their friend… if i could’ve saved them, i would’ve.” he said, and naruto sighed, god. He believed him too. Kurama hadn’t given him a reason not to. 

“I.. i just need to think about this all… i promise, i’ll come back eventually. Within a week at most… i just need time, ok?” naruto asked, and kurama just nodded furiously.

“I.. i’m just glad you don’t hate me.” he said quietly. Naruto smiled and walked out, he had so much to think about and he didn’t know where to begin.

He sighed but decided to go to where his shack. He sighed when he laid down, god it was all fucked up… but he found himself wanting to go back to kurama…  
______________________________________________________________________________  
Kurama was expecting the knock on the door, he was expecting the head to peek through and the 8 bodies to push through. He also anticipated them tackling him to the bed. And he was grateful for it.

“Guess you heard all that huh?” kurama said, muffled under matatabi and shukaku, who were under gyuki. 

“Yeah, and don’t worry bro, he’ll come around, and if he doesn’t i’ll knock some sense into him.” shukaku promised, kurama chuckled.

“I’d prefer you not hurt my mate.” kurama said teasingly. He loved all of his siblings, the person who had made them, a name kurama and the others had long since forgotten, had named them siblings. And at the very least, they remembered that, and they stuck together.

“He was a cutie though.” matatabi purred playfully, kurama chuckled.

“Yes, but i fear he may grow to hate me… i should have pushed harder to keep him when his parents had died, he shouldn’t have grown up how he did.” kurama whispered, gyuki cuffed him on the head.

“Don’t be an idiot, kurama. There was absolutely no way you could’ve known how they would treat him… but i agree, the looks those people gave him when he helped you… i felt for the kid.” the bull said, them all agreeing.

“Well, then when he comes to his senses and accepts kurama as his mate, we’ll just have to show him he isn’t alone, i personally like him, even if i only saw him once. He seems like a good kid.” saiken said, and kurama smiled. They were the best…  
______________________________________________________________________________  
It had been 3 days since naruto had talked to kurama, naruto had thankfully gotten a few small jobs around town, helping carry stuff in for a few coin. The villagers still seemed to hate him, but it felt different now…

He was just getting done his 5th job that day, he was helping an older lady, nearly blind, carry boxes into her shop. He would use ninjutsu, but people would accuse him of robbing the little old lady… which was repulsive.

He just finished, getting the small pay, and going on his way, after blushing when the lady gave him a kiss on the cheek…

He had only made it 2 streets over when they were there again. The other kids, naruto sighed but kept walking.

They all ran to catch up, there was about… 10 of them there, or something like that.

After 20 minutes of him walking and them following, he snapped turning to face them. “Don’t you guys have anything better to do than stalk me?” he bit out, a few people turning to them for a moment before turning back to their work.

“What did kurama want to talk to you about?” the uchiha boy asked, naruto snorted.

“It was something personal, now get lost. I don’t need a herd of people following me.” he said, admittedly snidely, and turned on his heel to leave. 

“Why don’t you just talk with us? We’re trying to be your friend and you keep shutting us out.” the pink girl exclaimed.

“Friends? Ha! You’ve talked to me 3 times and you still haven’t introduced yourselves.” naruto said, heading toward the playground, kids usually didn’t hang around it at this time of day… 

He was right, and enjoyed very much hanging upside down from a pull-up bar, or whatever it’s called.

“Well, then we’ll introduce ourselves.” the girl said again, the others nodding, even the uchiha boy… 

“Why do you even ca- you know what? Why not. My names naruto, don’t have a last name.” he said, the rest blinked, but finally the girl introduced them all.

Naruto found out they were:

Neji, kind of a poster boy for the hyuga clan.

Hinata was apparently like the princess of said clan, but wasn’t very confident.

The bored looking boy, was shikamaru. He was part of the shadow clan, whatever their actual name was. 

The other girl, ino, was blonde, and full of herself.

The fat guy, choji, was just that, a fatty.

The guy that had a dog on his head, well a puppy… god it was cute, was kiba. 

The guy with a big over coat, and bugs flying around his head, was shino. 

The girl with pink hair, was sakura… she didn’t seem special.

The last one, the uchiha kid, was sasuke. The uchiha were said to be the second strongest in the village, the uzumaki were the strongest. 

They didn’t have special powers, their chakra levels were just all super high.

“So, that’s great. Meeting new people, well ones that don’t wanna kill me, anyway.” naruto muses, they all shift awkwardly. 

“People have tried to kill you?” shikamaru asked, he seemed to try for gentle but kind of failed.

“Yeah, 3 separate attempts. I learned a few tricks to protect myself.” naruto shrugged, and he had. Over the years, after the third attack, which was a year again, he’d found people-a person- who could teach him some tricks, and by tricks he meant ninjutsu… apparently, he had a pretty high chakra level, he only learned two jutsus. Apparently both pretty high level ones.

“What do you mean ‘tricks?” kiba asked, and naruto couldn’t decide if he liked him or despised him. He was overly happy.

“I learned two jutsus, and started practising how to fight to protect myself. I’ll never be a ninja, i know that. But i want to live the best i can.” naruto said, shrugging.

“So… how did you survive by yourself?” ino asked, and naruto shrugged.

“Like i said the other day, i learned to survive, i did what i had too. I had to steal. But recently, i’ve been trying to make a better name for myself, trying to work for the money. I help people around the village.” he said, and he already saw the three girls blushing, they all screamed ‘in love’ they were just missing the hearts in their eyes- oh there they are.

They talked about small things, and naruto liked it. Distracting himself felt like a good thing, even if it was just for a second.

Finally, after about a half hour of just talking, naruto jumped down from the monkey bar. “Hey, sorry to cut this off, i enjoyed talking with you guys. But i have some stuff i need to think about, so… see you later i guess?” naruto waved, and felt a pleasant warmth in his gut when they waved back.

Naruto was slightly smiling as he went into the woods, but he didn’t go to his little ho- his shack. It wasn’t a home. Instead, he went to his favorite clearing, just a small expanse of land, not even 30 yards, surrounded by trees. He liked to come here to think, so that’s what he did.

He thought on it all. Freakin. Day. and he couldn’t think of anything, but then he realized he did like kurama, and there was no way to know if he loved the guy without, like, interacting with him. Plus, naruto had a lot more questions for the guy.

So, with that presence of mind, he decided to go pay the fox a visit, and propose at least being boyfriends before actually being, like, mates or whatever. Not that he got far, he was halfway to the big house when he was attacked, he wasn’t expecting it.

They dropped from the trees around him, 4 ninja, average looking… naruto was confused.

“Uh… can i help you?” he asked, glancing around, making sure to keep them all accounted for.

“Yes, monster,” one of them started, and naruto winced, oh god not this again. “You can, we want to know what kurama wants with you, and then we’re going to kill you.” he said, naruto was horrified by the sick glee with which they all seemed to love that idea. Naruto sighed, but subconsciously brought his hand up to the one kunai he had, he always carried it just in case.

“He says that we are ‘mates’. I’m not sure what it means to be one, or what it entails. So, i’m going to talk to him about it. Now, leave me alone.” naruto said, the ninja howled with laughter.

It sent chills down his spine.

“Did you miss the part where we said we were gonna kill you? Are you as stupid as you are a monster?” another asked, naruto glared.

“Did you miss the part where i have done nothing to be called a monster? No you didn’t. I was hated from day one, and do you know what i’ve done to deserve it? Nothing.” naruto said, and they all stopped laughing, and glared at him.

“You’re the reason the previous hokage died. You’re the reason that the village was in turmoil for years.” a third guy said, naruto snorted.

“Oh, so you’re going to condemn me? For what happened when i was a baby? Maybe you should look in the mirror, i think you are the real monsters.” naruto said, the last guy actually growled. 

“Enough of this, we know why he was going to kurama, let’s just kill him!” they all seemed to agree, naruto gulped but drew out his one kunai, he had been training but he hasn’t actually, like, fought anyone…

They all charged as one, and naruto prepared himself, he wouldn’t show them the satisfaction of seeing his 2 ninjutsus…

They split off, each flinging 3 kunai at him, naruto ducked out of the way of half of them, blocked 5, the last one embedded itself in his leg, he hissed in pain, blocking the sword that was coming at his head, he ripped the kunai out of his leg and used it to block another, using the force to roll away. He got up fast, and saw the looks of surprise on their face. Naruto winced, his leg stun bad, but he fought to stay upright.

They all charged again, one in front of the other three. Naruto grabbed the first guys wrist before he could swing his sword, using the momentum to jump around him, putting both hands on the guys back and swinging with his legs, knocking the others back. He brought an elbow down on the first guy and pushed off when he fell away, landing away from them. 

“Watch out!” naruto started at the voice, it was… he thought gyuki? The 8 tailed bull, he only heard the guy on-

Naruto gasped, and looked down. There was a sword sticking out of his stomach, the pain hadn’t registered yet, but naruto gulped, he coughed but there wasn’t any blood, small miracles. The blade was pulled out of him, and the guy who hit him went flying over his head, naruto didn’t wince at the sound of bone cracking as the body connected with a big rock.

The pain was slowly starting to creep in, and he knew he would probably die now. His legs gave out, and he fell. He was surprised, but too tired to care, to feel someone catch him. He was on his back now, looking up into the openly worried face of kurama. Naruto smiled weakly, he felt weak now.

“H-hey.” he said quietly, “i… i was coming to talk to you, sorry that i got side tracked.” naruto chuckled weakly. Kurama smiled sadly. “A-am i going to die?” naruto asked softly, and kurama clutched his hand. 

“No! You’re not. We have a medical ninja here, she’s going to take care of the wound ok? You’ll be fine naruto.” he said, and he sound so sure that naruto decided to put his trust in the fox.

He nodded, and then the face of a woman was there, he didn’t know her. 

It took a long time. Naruto tried his best to stay awake while she did her medical ninjutsu thing.

After what felt like forever, she was done, sighing. “He’ll be ok. He just needs to rest.” she said, and naruto saw kurama nod, picking naruto up. Naruto let it happen, letting his head rest against the beast-man’s soft chest. Naruto loved it.

Kurama took them straight to his room, the other bijuu gave them questioning looks, but gyuki who was behind them shook his head, they all accepted it and went about whatever they were doing.

Kurama was surprisingly gentle, and naruto melted into it, he felt like a girl but at the moment he didn’t care. He wanted to be here. He just wished it was under better circumstances.

“What were you even doing out there?” kurama muttered under his breath, naruto smiled.

“I told you, i was coming to talk to you.” naruto said, kind of quietly. 

Kurama swallowed. “Does that mean you accept being my mate?” he asked, slowly. Naruto smiled sadly.

“Yes and no.” he said, and kurama tilted his head. “Well, i like you, i know that. But i figure the only way for me to actually know if i love you is to, you know, actually interact with you, get to know you, let you know me. I mean, i doubt you can be positive you love me, you barely know me.” naruto said, and kurama seemed to buzz with excitement.

“I.. naruto the fact that you’re willing to try means everything to me. But… i know this might be, like, fast.” kurama said as he laid naruto down on his bed, naruto blinked. He’d spaced out enough to forget they were moving. “But i’d like for you to stay here, whether it’s in the same room as me doesn’t matter, but i… i hate the idea of you being alone, especially after what i just saw happen.” kurama whispered, and naruto smiled…. He’d been doing that a lot more than usual lately.

“Ok.” naruto agreed easily, figuring kurama need this. Kurama smiled and laid down next to him, naruto was surprised for all of a second, before smiled pressing himself against kurama, hugging the fox… so he loved to cuddle, sue him.

Naruto was too tired to really argue with this arrangement.

Kurama tensed slightly under the contact, but relaxed slightly. His mate wanted him, or at least wanted to. And he was willingly, more or less, sleeping with him.

Kurama could work with this. It wasn’t that late, but kurama brought his arms around the smaller body and hugged it close. He fell asleep content.

Kurama was started awake by 8 gasps, snapping his head up(not completely, barely remembering the human beside him) and looking towards the door.

He groaned and flopped back down, looking down to a completely sprawled out naruto. Kurama chuckled. 

Naruto was completely sprawled out, his legs going every which way, one arm and leg draped over him. His head was on his chest, which kurama loved, despite the small bit of drool leaking out of the teens mouth.

Naruto stirred, and kuram gulped. There was no telling how he would take this, even if he was mostly coherent yesterday.

He blinked awake, and kurama was thankful for the others being quiet. Though they didn’t leave…

Naruto looked up at kurama, blinked away tiredness, then when it seemed he finally came back to awareness, he blinked and sat up slowly. He looked around, and swallowed.

“Uh, sorry.” naruto mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Kurama tilted his head, he had been expecting a lot of things. Yelling, maybe. Him just… leaving. But not an apology.

“Sorry for what?” kurama asked, and naruto smiled.

“Well, first for falling asleep on you, but also for drooling a bit on you.” naruto said, shrugging. Kurama chuckled.

“Nothing a good washing can’t fix. If it had been on my tails, i may have had a problem, but i still wouldn’t have been mad at you.” kurama said lightly, and he meant it. His tails were, as they were with all the bijuu, the definition of their power. They didn’t directly affect it, but it showed their place as far as physical power goes. Kurama was at the top, and was prideful of his tails… but if naruto drooled on them, well no one could really control what they do in their sleep… kurama would just need to wash them. Thoroughly. 

Naruto just nodded, and turned to the door as well, tensing slightly at the sight of the others.

Kurama smiled slightly, hopefully reassuringly. “Naruto, these are my sibling, the-” naruto cut him off, but not rudely.

“Uh… i know who they are, heh.” naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. Kurama blinked.

Shukaku stepped forward, obviously taking this as permission to talk to the kid.

“How do you know us?” he asked, his voice the usual high pitched tone. Naruto chuckled.

“Heh, i mean you guys are kind of famous, you know? I just kind of read up on all of it.” he said, shrugging. Matatabi chuckled.

“I guess we are, we don’t try to be, but people think that sense we’re so powerful, we are some kind of royalty. It’s annoying, but what can you do?” she said, naruto chuckled. That was true.

“You must be hungry. Lets eat.” son spoke up, and kurama was entirely grateful, it was starting to get to an awkward silence.

Naruto nodded but seemed hesitant. He got up and followed them all down nonetheless.

Matatabi cooked, who was the only one who could cook in the house, without burning something. 

Everyone else sat around on the couches, and naruto once again hesitated before sitting next to kurama on the couch. Kurama smiled, grateful that naruto was at least trying here.

It didn’t take long for matatabi to cook, she often used clones to help it go by faster. 

It only took 20 minutes for her to finish, she just made eggs and french toast and sausage, but kurama saw naruto smelling the air appreciatively. Kurama growled lowly at the reminder of how bad naruto had had it. 

Finally, she called them in, they all going into the kitchen and getting their food, kurama making sure naruto got more than enough. They sat around the big table, eating. It was loud, as it always was. Naruto didn’t join in, but he didn’t shy away from the noise either, which kurama was grateful for.

“So… sorry for asking this now, but i’ve been curious… where did you learn to fight?” gyuki asked, kurama tried not to glare at him for bringing it up.

“Oh, uh… i don’t know if you know the guy, but i learned from the toad sage jiraiya.” naruto said, shrugging. They all had wide eyes.

“He hasn’t taught anyone in years.” saiken said, obviously not believing it.

“Yeah, he kind of took pity on me, he taught me how to fight, along with 2 jutsus.” naruto said, shrugging. He had been ticked at the time, an old guy taking pity on him and teaching him to fight, it was weird and to naruto, insulting… but he was very grateful.

“That’s cool.” shukaku said cheerfully, as usually. “What two jutsus did he teach you?” he added on, and naruto blushed, kurama sent a small thankful glance to shukaku.

“Uh… the shadow clone jutsu, and the… rasengan.” naruto added on, kurama blinked, then smirked, the others just nodded.

“Matatabi uses the clone jutsu too.” kurama commented, and naruto blinked.

Matatabi chuckled sweetly, and naruto found himself liking, what looked like a tiger, the women. “Yes, but i can only make 20 or so. At most.” she said, waving it off, she looked to naruto, “how many can you make, and keep made for more than 5 minutes?” she asked, and naruto sifted, blushing more.

“Uh…” he stuttered.

“The shadow clone jutsu is difficult, even if you can only make one, it’s still a pretty good feet.” saiken said, “especially for someone who doesn’t have the formal teachings a lot of people have.” he added on. Naruto shifted.

“Er, it’s not that, i uh… i can make, and maintain yes, one thousand clones.” naruto said, and they all stopped. Naruto chuckled weekly. “Yeah, jiraiya was surprised as well, he said i had very high chakra stores, greater than anyone in the uzumaki clan even. But i can only maintain that many for half an hour.” he said, they all stared speechless at him. No one has been able to do that, no one in the uzumaki clan, nor anyone else outside of it.

“Would you be willing to show us?” kukuo spoke up for the first time, naruto tilted his head around, before shrugging.

“If you want, i don’t mind. But, we should probably do it outside, i might, like break the structure of this place with that many of me, heh.” he said, rubbing his hand over the back of his head. Kurama chuckled, figured his mate would be very powerful

They all congregated outside, naruto was excited, he loved showing off. When they were finally all outside, the bijuu sat to the side and naruto sighed but focused, he had made a thousand of them once, and it had taken a lot out of him....

He sighed but focused on his goal, bringing literally all of his chakra to the ready, he took a deep breathe before making the necessary hand sign. “Mass shadow clone jutsu!” naruto said, focusing on his chakra. Finally, he released it, and opened his eyes he hadn’t realized he closed. All around him were exact copies of him, literally all around him, like they were all over the house, in the woods hanging off the trees. Naruto couldn’t be certain there were one thousand, though he focused on that number, but there were a lot of them.

“Holy shit.” he heard kurama say from his left, he turned to them, and fell over laughing. The bijuu were all covered in his clones, who were trying to get off of them, but falling over and over again.

They all glared at him for laughing, clones and bijuu alike. Naruto chuckled before he heard a “holy fucking shit what is this?!” from behind him. He turned to see the hokage, the 5th lady tsunade, gaping at all of the narutos. Her assistant with her pig had a similar expression. 

“What is going on here?!” tsunade yelled, marching over to them. Naruto flinched, but didn’t release the jutsu.

“Uh, sorry lady hokage. They wanted to see it, i told them i could make a thousand clones, they requested to see it, i made them.” naruto said, shrugged, him and all his clones shoved their hands into their pockets.

Kurama chuckled, coming up beside him, putting one hand over his shoulder.

“Naruto, this is amazing.” kurama said, and naruto might have blushed at how proud the fox sounded…

“Where the hell did you learn this?” the hokage said through clenched teeth. Naruto winced but held firm.

“Uh, he said not to tell you, because you’d probably kill him.” naruto said, shrugging, kurama chuckled. 

“I am your hokage! Tell me who taught you this jutsu!” she exclaimed, and naruto just narrowed his eyes at her.

“I’m sorry, my hokage? You’re nothing to me, you fucking bitch. You hated me just like the village. I have done nothing to any of you, and yet you hate me as if i’m a plague. I won’t tell you who taught me this jutsu because i promised him i wouldn’t. “ naruto said firmly, and while the hokage seemed surprised, kurama seemed pissed, but not at naruto. 

Finally the hokage gathered herself, launching a hand out, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him behind her. “If you won’t tell me, i’ll force the information out of you. Only a view know that jutsu, it shouldn’t be hard.” she said, but then kurama was there, and the hokage was on her face with naruto safely in his arms.

“You will do nothing of the sort, hokage. He has done nothing wrong. You are out of line, i believe it would be best if you left now.” he said coldly, clutching naruto close to himself. Naruto gulped, he was kind of grateful for kurama at the moment. He kind of realized he still hadn’t released the jutsu, but ignored it. The hokage gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything as she and her assistant stalked away. 

Naruto sighed but released the jutsu, all of his clones going up in a puff of smoke.

Naruto sighed heavily but slumped against kurama. “Sorry.” naruto whispered, kurama snapped his head to the human.

“What could you possibly be sorry for?” he asked, keeping his tone gentle.

“I… if i hadn’t done that, she wouldn’t have been so mad. And now she will probably get you guys in trouble or some shit.” naruto muttered, and kurama sighed heavily.

“Naruto, you are not to blame for any of this. Any of it. If anything i am, i should have taken you with me instead of leaving you in this hell hole. It wasn’t fair to you.” kurama said, and naruto chuckled.

“No, you couldn’t have known this would have happened. You made a choice, you couldn’t have known the village would hate me.” naruto said, “but i am glad you came back, it’s good to have people on my side.” naruto said, kurama smiled and was thrown off balance when naruto leaned up and kissed him. He was surprised for all of a second, before kissing back, just as gentle.

They broke the kiss after a second, and naruto was smiling wide, he was sure kurama’s smile mirrored his own. 

“That was so cute!” naruto started at matatabi squeal, kurama laughed, hugging him. 

“Perhaps we should all go back inside?” he suggested, naruto nodded. Then he realised something. 

“Uh.. actually, i’d like to get my stuff from where i was staying..,” he trailed off, kurama smiled.

“Sure, i’ll come with you.” he said, naruto smiled appreciatively. 

“we’ll all come, in case you need help carrying stuff.” hachibi added, naruto smiled. He was happy to have such good friends.

Naruto led the way, it only took them 5 minutes to get there. When they got there, the bijuus all just stared at the shack… naruto chuckled weakly. 

“Yeah, i probably won’t need much help carrying anything…” he trailed off, ducking inside, kurama squeezed in behind him, he barely fit. Naruto packed the few things into a couple bags, kurama was silent for 10 minutes, before he finally spoke up.

“You barely have any blankets or anything, how did you stay warm during the winters?” he asked softly, naruto saw the others standing behind him, listening in. naruto was glad they didn’t try to get inside, they would never fit, at least not without breaking him in some way.

He sighed sadly. “I toughed it out.” naruto said quietly, and he did. He refused to ask anyone in the village for help. 

Kurama gritted his teeth, and naruto grimaced. “God damnit, i’m going to kill that damned hokage.” kurama ground out, naruto winced. He was done packing.

“Don’t, don’t kill someone because of me.” naruto whispered, that at least seemed to snap kurama out of his anger.

He turned to looked at naruto carefully, hugging him after only a minute of eye contact. “She should’ve helped you. You shouldn’t have had to be alone in this… shack.” kurama said the word shack like a swear, naruto chuckled.

“I never went to the village for help, i couldn’t trust them. The hokage couldn’t have known i was struggling.” he said, deciding to leave out how he almost never ate then, since the shops were usually closed during winter. Kurama sighed, naruto put the last of his belongings into a bag, he had 3 bags total of clothes, all thin, and about 2 blanket.

Finally, naruto dropped down and ripped up the floorboard in the middle of the room. He lifted out a set of kunai and shuriken, a gift from jiraiya before he left, and a necklace the orphanage had given him, supposedly his father’s. It was just a crystal, but naruto had always held it close to him.

“Where did you get those?” shukaku asked as he picked up the last bag kurama hadn’t grabbed, then he seemed to see the necklace. “Where did you get that necklace?!” he asked, naruto stared at him in shock.

“Uh, it was like the one thing the orphanage gave me. They said it was my father’s, i never wear it, i’m afraid i’ll probably lose it.” he said chuckling, kurama ducked back into the shack, and stared at the necklace.

“Naruto… that necklace is very valuable.” kurama said gently, “and while it was your father’s, it was also tsunade’s grandfathers… she has been looking for it for as long as i’ve known her.” he said, and naruto just stared at the necklace, then sighed.

“Well, sorry to disappoint her but it’s the only thing i have from my parents, she can live without it.” naruto said, putting it around his neck, kurama chuckled.

“Good, she’s pretty much obsessed with the thing, but not in a bad way. She just wants it because it’s valuable. Kind of selfish if you ask me.” hachibi said from outside, naruto chuckled as he followed kurama and shukaku out side, he slipped the gem on the necklace under his shirt, he noticed kurama hachibi and shukaku all carried a bag each, naruto smiled.

“I can carry one of the bags if you want.” he said on principle. He was ignored, and they started back towards the house.

The following day, after they put naruto’s stuff into kurama’s room(their room, kurama had said) naruto woke up early, again, on his back, kurama stretching, naruto smiled and just laid there, not wanting to move quite yet. Kurama chuckled, “come on, naruto. I want to show you something.” he whispered, and naruto sighed.

“Okay.” he said sleepily. He looked outside and saw it was midday… wow he slept a lot. 

Kurama led him downstairs, no one was there. He led him downstairs again, and naruto gaped at what he saw. It was a giant expanse of land, naruto couldn’t even see the opposite wall, and they were very high up. Kurama hesitated.

“Um… i’m going to show you something, it’s a secret for us bijuu, but i wanted you to know, i know it’ll be surprising, but just.. Please don’t freak out?” kurama said, and naruto smiled.

“Ok.” he said, nodding easily. Suddenly, kurama just dropped off and naruto gasped, running towards the ledge, only to fall back when a giant kurama head came into view, ok it wasn’t like, giant giant, but it was easily twice the size of naruto’s whole body. Naruto just stared, he felt no fear, it was just pure fascination.

Naruto also couldn’t help the his next words. “You’re beautiful.” he whispered, kurama seemed to smile, naruto looked over the edge, and kurama was standing straight up, and naruto realized kurama wasn’t, like, extravagantly huge. He was maybe 3 average trees high. But naruto couldn’t help but think of how beautiful kurama was, and wondered why he would choose to be with someone like him…

Naruto stopped those thoughts before they could make him feel even worse, instead he reached a hand out and touched the side of kurama’s head, kurama just stared at him, and naruto smiled.

“This is amazing, by the way.” naruto said when the silence got to be too much. Kurama chuckled. 

“Yeah, i’m just glad you didn’t freak out.” kurama said gently, naruto smiled.

“I think the warning helped.” he said gently, kurama smiled and started to shift back to his small form.   
“I wanted to show you this because i trust you, naruto. And this is one of the biggest secrets of the bijuu, hardly anyone knows we can change our sizes so much.” kurama said, answering naruto’s unspoken question of why he showed him this. Naruto nodded, smiling… he was very happy when kurama kissed him.

The next few weeks went by fast, naruto was happily getting used to living with the bijuu, all of them were awesome, even saiken, though naruto was still hesitant about touching the slug.

Another thing he found about them all, they were all extremely cuddly, right now he was sandwiched between kurama and hachibi…. Naruto would never deny how much he loved cuddling with them. Within the few weeks he’d been there, kurama had actually, like, taken him on dates, and naruto loved it.

Kurama was surprisingly really gentle, most of the time. He was clearly aware of how strong he was, and he did a good job of controlling it. 

They weren’t really doing anything, it was swelteringly hot and naruto was content to lay around the house. Apparently, they had different plans. 

Slowly, they all got up, when kurama was shifting to follow, naruto flopped back over the couch, he heard them all laugh. 

“Come on, naruto, we have some things to do.” kurama said evenly, naruto grumbled.

“How can you guys stand the heat? You have like fur and shit.” naruto complained, kurama chuckled. 

“It took a while, but you eventually get used to it.” he said, naruto groaned but got up, following along obediently.

“What did you do during the summer if you complained that much just sitting around?” matatabi teased, naruto smirked, he hated the heat but he’d live.

“I slept, a lot, and did my best to be in a cool area, shade and stuff like that.” naruto said shrugging as they headed towards the village, kurama walked next to him, shukaku on his other side, the rest were walking either a head or behind them.

“We were given a mission by tsunade, but i figured you wouldn’t want to be left behind by yourself, so i figured why not have you come? You’re a capable fighter, and the mission isn’t that difficult.” kurama said, naruto couldn’t help how happy that made him, that kurama actually seemed to want to include him in this stuff.

“Alright, what’s the mission then?” he asked, shukaku was the one to answer this time.

“We’re to gather a bit of herbs, usually this kind of thing would be given to genin, but the herbs are in a particularly dangerous area, so she needs us to go, apparently.” he said, naruto just nodded, hoping he wouldn’t get in the way. They didn’t even stop at the village, just went around and headed down the path, and towards wherever it was they were going.

Naruto had never been outside of the village, minus the woods surrounding it, so it was knew for him. But the thought that plagued his mind was that he had to be helpful, he didn’t want to be a liability, or cause them trouble.

Apparently their destination was quite a distance away, saiken who controlled the map said it would take them about 4 days to get there.

As they settled down for the night, they set up blankets and such, they had tents but it wasn’t really cold out so what was the use of setting them up.

As matatabi was making the food, naruto sat down by the fire they had going, kurama was next to him, a comforting presence pressed against him. Naruto may have melted a little against him, but oh well. 

The night was comfortable, despite sleeping outside. Kurama was a nice solid warmth, naruto didn’t mind at all falling asleep on him.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next 3 days after that past by fast, naruto was happy he was able to keep up with them all, though he was sur e if they wanted they could leave him in the dust.

“So, i’ve been thinking.” naruto started, they were near their destination, “even if it is in a dangerous place, these herbs. Why did she ask the most power beast-men to get it?” he asked. Kurama shrugged.

“I’ve been thinking that too, i feel like she has something else in mind, though i do not know if it’s a good or bad thing.” kurama admitted, naruto nodded. He had, actually, worn the necklace, the gem one, he liked it, and was fearing less right now losing it. 

“Alright, here we are!” saiken called, putting the map away in a bag he had carried. They all had one, plus the bag they carried with their own stuff. 

“So what does this herb look like, anyhow?” gyuki asked, matatabi answered.

“It’s supposed to glow, rainbow the hokage said.” she said, naruto blinked. 

“Alright, spread out and search for it then, is there a certain way we have to harvest it or whatever?” kurama asked , matatabi shook her head.

“No, the hokage just said pull it out of the ground, roots and all.” she said, they all spread out, searching for the herb. Naruto whooped when he found a clearing of them.

“Hey guys! There’s a bunch over here!” naruto called, already getting ready to dig them out. He pulled the first one up, and yelled when a blinding light came from the plant. “The fuck?!” he said, stumbling back. He heard running behind him, and slowly opened his eyes, in front of him was a completely orange outline of himself… this wasn’t good.

“You know, i think the hokage left something out.” shukaku remarked, they all snorted.

“Yeah, she did. Naruto are you ok?” kurama asked, as they all stared at the outline. It was completely orange, the only thing telling it wasn’t naruto was that the entire body, face, clothes, were all orange.

“Uh, yeah. Besides the light blinding me, yeah. I’m good.” naruto nodded, stepping back, the thing stepped back too, away from them. “Uh, this is gonna be annoying, isn’t it?” naruto asked.

“Most likely, yes.” kurama agreed. Naruto took out a kunai, and the thing followed suit, naruto sighed.

“I can’t even kill it without out it getting me back.” Naruto muttered. Shukaku was the one to rush forward, slashing the thing down. It fell apart, the herb where it once stood, laying there, roots exposed. 

“Well, that’s that.” shukaku said happily, picking up the herb and pocketing it. Naruto shrugged, they all went about doing the same thing, picking them, then one of them destroying the copy that came up. Naruto refused to destroy kurama’s copies, as did kurama. Finally, after a long couple hours, they had the herbs. 

“Well, that was easier than i expected.” naruto said, “you know, after the thing came up, i thought oh shit we’re gonna be here a while, but it wasn’t as bad as i thought.” naruto commented, the others agreed. 

“So is that all we needed?” shukaku asked, kurama nodded.

“Alright, let’s head back now before something else annoying pops up.” he instructed, they all nodded, starting back towards the village.

They all started back, naruto hefted his bags, following.

By the end of the first day of travel back to the village, they were all at least a little tired, from the fighting and then running right after.

So, when they set up camp, naruto was unsurprised to pretty much fall asleep on the spot. He was only aware he had fallen asleep when kurama shook him gently.

“Naruto, wake up.” he said, naruto was up a second later, because it sounded urgent. He looked around, and sure enough there were 20 ninjas around them, naruto cursed their luck.

“What do you guys want?!” shukaku called, one of them, the leader, naruto supposed.

“We want the kid.” he said, gesturing to naruto. “We were ordered to take him, don’t ask questions, bijuu. Just hand him over.” the guy said calmly, naruto gulped, he didn’t think the bijuu would just hand him over…

“And, why may i ask, do you want him?” gyuki asked, naruto noticed that the bijuu were surrounding him, and kurama who was next to him.

“Like i said, don’t ask questions. Just hand over the kid. We don’t want trouble, but we will take him by force, if necessary.” the guy said evenly, naruto marveled at how this guy could be so calm while face 9 of the most powerful creatures, like, ever.

“We refuse.” kurama said easily, naruto smiled. He knew they wouldn’t sell him out so fast. The guy sighed.

“Then i was told to offer you 1 million yen in exchange for the kid.” the guy said, naruto blinked, 1 million yen, for him? Who the hell wanted him that badly? 

“Again, we refuse.” kurama said easily, “now leave, or we will get violent.” kurama added, the guy blinked, then sighed again.

“Then you leave us no choice. Men, attack!” he ordered, and out of the trees launched, what seemed like, an army of ninjas. “You may be bijuu, but even you will fall to a thousand men.” the guy said confidently, naruto shoved kurama aside, kurama smirked.

“Yes, but we have a thousand men of our own.” he said, the guy blinked.

“He have you surrounded, kurama, nine tails. You have no one to help you. The bijuu all smirked.

Naruto laughed, “let me put it to you this way, i can take care of myself.” naruto said, “multi shadow clone jutsu!” he yelled, and just like that, one thousand naruto's were there.

The guy looked around, the narutos were intermingled with his own men. Naruto smirked.

“Leave.” he ordered, the guy gulped, but stood firm.

“No, we are under orders to capture you, by any means necessary. Men, attack!” and with that. Chaos ensued, naruto kept the bijuu back. 

“I don’t think i’ll need your guys’ help, no offense, but these guys seem to be pretty weak, all in all. 100 of their men, by now, are unconscious, and they’ve only gotten 10 of my clones.” naruto explained, the bijuu nodded. The leader looked worried, with good reason.

“How are you this strong?!” the guy demanded, naruto shrugged.

“Don’t know, just am.” naruto supplied, the guy glared.

“You will not make a mockery of the cloud village!” the guy shouted, enraged, and was then charging, full on sprint, at him. Naruto, the original one, met him halfway, blocking the sword. The battle around them was surprisingly drawing to a close already, all of the guys were unconscious, and 100 of his clones remained.

“You lost, buddy. There are still 100 of my clones ready to take you down, take care of your men, they need it.” naruto advised, the guy looked around, scowling. 

“This isn’t the end, kid. My employer will just send more.” he sneered, walking away, naruto shrugged.

“So be it, i’ll beat them down again and again.” he said simply, releasing the jutsu. The remaining clones popped away. 

Naruto staggered, the exhaustion for the other clones catching up to him. Kurama was there in a second. “Don’t overstress yourself, we could’ve helped.” kurama said gently, naruto smiled.

“I know that, kurama. I just didn’t see a reason to get you guys involved when i could’ve dealt with it myself.” naruto said, shrugging.

Kurama smiled sadly. “You still don’t trust us.” he said quietly, naruto could feel his eyes widen. 

“What?! Of course i trust you guys-”

“Naruto, it’s ok. I understand. I get why you might not trust us completely.” kurama assured, naruto shook his head.

“It’s not like that you idiot.” naruto sighed. He took kurama’s hand gently, and squeezed gently until his claws came out. 

He gently pulled kurama’s hand forward, placing it on his heart, claws still out. He kept eye contact with kurama the entire time. “I trust you with my life, kurama. You more than anyone. I want to let you help, but… i also don’t to risk any of you getting hurt, especially not because of me. I know you’re all powerful, but it still worries me.” naruto explained, kurama gulped, his eyes wide.

Finally, he pulled naruto into a hug, almost bone crushing. “You idiot” kurama muttered, “we’ll help you no matter what, i promise.” kurama said seriously, naruto smiled against kurama’s chest. 

“Thank you.” naruto whispered. 

“And of course we’ll help you too.” gyuki said, and suddenly, naruto was in the center of a big hug fest… he liked it.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Right when they got back, they went to drop the herbs off, the hokage looked at him in surprise, but said nothing… until she looked at his neck.

“Where the hell did you get that?!” she demanded, standing up, hands slamming down on her desk. Naruto looked down and gulped, he’d forgotten he wore it. 

“Er… the orphanage gave it to me, said it was my parents.” naruto replied, keeping it simple. The hokage narrowed her eyes at it, then sighed sitting down. 

“Fine, i suppose you know it is the previous hokage’s, then?” she said, naruto nodded. “Just… don’t lose it.” she said, naruto blinked but nodded. Ten minutes later, they were leaving the hokage’s building. 

“That went better than i thought it would.” shukaku commented, the others agreed. Naruto chuckled.

“Yeah, i forgot i was wearing it, though i was surprised when she didn’t try to kill me for it.” he admitted, the others laughed, even kurama. 

“Well, i can say we all are. I guess she’s more mellow than we thought.” saiken admitted, naruto nodded. 

With that, they were on their way back to their home, naruto couldn’t even begin to describe how much that small fact made him happy. 

When they got back, naruto gaped at the surroundings inside the home… it was trashed, everything, or near enough, destroyed. 

“What the hell?!” kurama shouted, naruto winced. Kurama didn’t get angry much(he had incredible control) but when he did, he was not to be messed with.

“Guess the hokage wasn’t as mellow as we thought.” matatabi muttered, naruto winced… that meant this was his fault. He kept his head down, helping as best he could to clean up. No one said anything to him, but naruto could feel the anger coming off of kurama… it wasn’t good, and he didn’t know how to fix it. 

They went to their own rooms, and surprisingly only naruto’s and kurama’s room was messed up.

Kurama snarled again. Naruto winced again. It sounded worse this time. “Leave, we’ll clean this up.” kurama said, naruto winced at the cold tone. The others all left, though hesitantly. 

“I-i’m sorry, kurama.” naruto whispered, once the door was closed. Kurama ignored him, cleaning up the room. Naruto gulped, but helped all the same. It was a good bit to clean up, and took about 40 minutes, all the while naruto was a nervous mess. 

God, kurama hated him now. That was all naruto could think. It was one thing to offer to help him, but when their own home was under threat, naruto didn’t know if kurama would keep him around anymore… he was terrified that after opening up to them, they would kick him aside like he was nothing.

When they were done, naruto sat hesitantly on the bed, kurama was pacing the room. Naruto spoke slowly and quietly, “i-i’ll leave if you want, kurama.” he said sadly, kurama snapped his head to him.

“Why would you think i want that?” he demanded, naruto winced.

“I-i’m a threat to your family, and your home. I… i understand, i really do. Just… say the word and i’ll leave.” naruto said, he couldn’t meet kurama’s eyes. But he kept talking, for whatever reason. “Y-you’re obviously angry, and i get it… no one wants their home ruined because of someone like me.” naruto said, naruto was busy in his own thoughts he didn’t notice kurama walking towards him, he was only aware of it when kurama was on a knee, at eye level with him.

Naruto gulped, but slowly raised his head to look kurama in the eyes. Finally, kurama spoke. “Naruto, i am angry, i am enraged. But not at you. I am mad at the hokage, because i can smell her on everything, i know it was her that did this. I will never tell you to leave, naruto.” kurama said, naruto nodded, he could feel the tears. He was instantly wrapped in kurama’s arms, and he hugged back, hard.

“I’m sorry, i should trust you guys more… i guess i am still insecure about stuff.” naruto mumbled against kurama’s chest, kurama just chuckled.

“Don’t worry, we’ll all help you get through it, i’m sure it must be hard, adjusting and all.” kurama whispered, naruto smiled, hugging harder.

“Thank you, kurama. I’m lucky to have someone like you in my life. I love you.” naruto whispered the last 3 words, and felt kurama tensed for a moment, before hugging back.

“I love you too, naruto.” he whispered, naruto just smiled burying his face in the fox’s chest… for once glad he was short, it made it easier to lay his head against the bigger man’s chest.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next day, naruto couldn’t express how happy he was. He had a good family, yes he considered them all family. He had a group of friends, yeah the group of teens were kind of friends.

The 9 didn’t have any work that day, so naruto decided to go to the village, and help the people there, as he always did. As he was walking around, naruto had the distinct feeling he was being watched. He turned multiple times, but no one was there. He shrugged it off as over paranoia. 

He found 5 jobs, earning a fair bit of coin from 4 of them. He refused to take money for helping the elderly lady again, she was so sweet that he just couldn’t, even when she forced money into his hands, he just snuck it back into her purse, and walked away. 

That had taken about 3 hours all together, and he still felt like someone was following him, or at least watching him. He looked around, and finally spotted them. 5 people in total, anbu black ops. All with a different animal mask on, naruto sighed in frustration. Why were they following him?! 

He sighed but opted to ignore them, only keeping a small fraction of his mind on them. Finally, after finishing 10 more jobs in about 2 hours, naruto decided to go to the park, where he liked to hang out, just sitting upside down, or just on top of the monkey bars. 

He wasn’t expecting it when the anbu guys jumped out, making a circle around him. Naruto stared at them, still upside down. 

“Um… may i help you?” he said, realizing suddenly he’d probably played into their hand, getting alone. 

“Yes, you may come with us. We have orders to take you in, come quietly.” a female, obviously the leader, said, naruto stared at her.

“And why are you arresting me, may i ask?” naruto said innocently, because he was innocent. 

“No, you may not. We were told to just arrest you, now will you come peacefully, or do we have to use force?” the women asked, again, naruto snorted.

“If you’re not going to tell me why i’m being arrested, then no. i will not go with you. I haven’t done anything wrong so you can all screw off.” naruto taunted, sitting on top of the monkey bar. The anbu stared at him… he was unnerved, he couldn’t read their expressions, obviously. They were wearing fucking masks.

“Then sorry, kid. We have to take you in by force.” the lady said, naruto blinked, then narrowed his eyes, barely avoiding two people making a grab for him from behind him. He swung under the monkey bar, landing on his feet, knocking both of them back. 

“Sorry, that doesn’t work for me either, sorry.” naruto said, winking. Naruto was sure the girl would be glaring if she wasn’t wearing a mask. 

It went on for a while, the 5 anbu making grabs for him. Naruto just danced out of the way, almost laughing, “you know, i heard the anbu were like dangerous, the elite of the elite. Yet, you all suck, kind of real bad.” naruto taunted. The guy that had last made a grab for him snarled, like an animal. 

He launched forward, naruto promptly kicked him in the face, breaking the mask and knocking the guy out. Naruto didn’t know the guy, but still felt slightly bad. He shook it off as he danced away from the others, not really attacking. He didn’t want to get in trouble for this. So, he was making his way toward the exit, trying to make it subtle, while still dancing away from them. 

He was almost there, just one last jump and he could dart… and suddenly he just could move, it felt like he was stuck in glue or something like that. But, bottom line is he couldn’t move. He gulped, looking down(that itself took a lot of energy), there was a shadow connected to him, he knew what that meant. He sighed heavily. 

He looked to his right(he was half turned to the exit) and sure enough the group of teenagers were there. Shikamaru had his hand sign made, ad sure enough a shadow was connected to naruto’s. Naruto glared at the other teen, how had he not seen them before? 

“Shikamaru.” naruto glared at the teen. Shikamaru remained impassive, naruto struggled to bring his hands together, he put all of his energy into it. 

“Good job, shikamaru.” the anbu women said. Naruto grunted, but was so close to making the one hand sign he needed… he was kicked across the playground before he could think about it again. 

He grunted as his leg hit the ground, it twisted in a weird way but it wasn’t broken… he hoped. But, with that he was also released from the shadow jutsu, he took the moment he had to make a good hundred clones. 

“You idiot! We had him! You let him get out of that!” naruto saw the women rounding on the man he had knocked out, naruto groaned at the pain in his leg, the clones at least weren’t affect the same way. 

Naruto realized that while his leg might not be broken, it might be dislocated. He stood, albeit shakily, on his legs. His right leg(the one he landed on) screamed in pain, but naruto forced himself onto it. 

He wondered how long he could hold out like this before he collapsed… the 5 of them, the anbu charged forward. Naruto grunted but stood firm, his clones around him. The group of teens were watching, shikamaru looked pale, naruto realised he didn’t have that good of stores of chakra. 

Naruto grunted but took out the one kunai he carried with him still. The clones followed his lead. The 5 anbu seemed unconcerned, naruto thought that was good. Let them be over confident. They charged in unison, naruto held firm as his clones went to intercept them, his leg still felt like it was on fire, but less so, probably because he hadn’t moved it in a while. He saw the teens were still suspiciously still, naruto wished he had stayed home at this point… 

All he could think of now was getting back to the house. The bijuus would help him, he hoped. Naruto grimaced, but called out to his clones. “Don’t try to kill them, just knock them out!” he called out.

“Roger!” all of the clones called, naruto grimaced as pain exploded across his leg, but he held it down. 

The 5 collided with the 100 clones naruto had made, they were having a rough time naruto could tell. And then, all of a sudden the teens joined in, wiping out most of the clones, naruto blinked. He hadn’t thought they would join in… he grimaced, standing straighter. There were 10 more clones, all around him, the anbu black ops, and the group of teens, faced him. Naruto gulped. He might have been able to take the anbu down, but this was ridiculous!

Naruto grimaced, but was ready to run, he couldn’t win this fight. That is, until he a white hot pain went up his leg, he looked down to see a kunai buried in his leg… it was in deep. Naruto snarled, but stayed upright, drawing his leg up until the toes were barely on the ground. He stared down sasuke, who had thrown the knife. 

“Why?!” he grimace, the group of teens blinked.

“You’re a criminal, we’re just helping to take you in.” neji said, naruto grimaced. 

“I haven’t committed any crime, you fucking bastards.” naruto snarled, the anbu had already advanced on him. The last thought he had, before they knocked him out, was of kurama.   
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he woke up, naruto still felt the hot pain in his leg, but at least it was bandaged. Naruto sat up slowly, not really knowing where he was. It was a cave, he knew. Just by smell he could tell that. He was behind bars, and he couldn’t see out of it. It was that dark. He grimaced, but pressed himself against what felt like a wall. 

Right then he could only hope kurama and the others would find him.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Kurama was pacing the room a day later, there had been no news from the boy since… well for a day. The kid always came back around 5 o’clock, during the week naruto had been there with them, he never stayed out later than 8. So, at 9 the night before, kurama had been worried, but went to sleep hoping naruto would come in during the night. Now, it was 4 o’clock of the next day, and none of them had seen, or heard anything from naruto.

“Do you think he ran away from us?” matatabi asked gently, kurama shook his head.

“No, i don’t. He was… he was so happy the other day. I don’t believe he would leave just like that, not without a reason.” kurama insisted, matatabi just nodded.

“Then why are we standing around? Let’s go into town and see if we can find anything. Alright?” gyuki reasoned, kurama sighed but nodded.

“Alright, yeah. But… i think something’s wrong. Stick together, ok? Go in groups of 2- there will be one group of three, yes.” kurama hated when he sounded like a teacher, but it couldn’t be helped. They all nodded, and with that they were out the door, running toward the town.

When they got there, kurama broke off with gyuki, heading towards the playground- naruto went there a lot to think, kurama knew. He’d went with the kid a lot. Kurama was worried, though. He was worried that naruto did just up and leave.

“We’ll figure this out, kurama. Don’t worry about it.” gyuki assured, kurama smiled but stayed silent. 

When they got to the park, the smell hit him instantly, even as the seen registered in his mind. There was blood on the ground, a broken animal mask on the side, half hidden under bushes… the strong of naruto, scared and hurt, hit him full force. Kurama growled lowly in his throat.

There were some kids, kurama remembered them as people naruto sometimes talked to. He walked towards them, gyuki right by his side. The… 11 of them, kurama counted quick, they had been cleaning the scene, and looked up as he approached, most of them paled, except for the uchiha guy, and the shadow clan guy. 

“What happened here?” kurama growled, gyuki stayed silent beside him, good. Kurama would handle this. He would find his mate.

The shadow clan guy gulped, “i don’t know, we were just told to clean the mess.” he said, kurama stared at him.

“Did you know, that the scent of people are stronger the longer there in one place? And i smell you, all, here. And it is definitely just as strong as naruto’s own scent… now, where is he?” kurama asked again, he didn’t want to hurt these kids, they were young and obviously didn’t understand why he was upset. 

“Naruto was attacked by some anbu guys.” the uchiha guy said calmly, the shadow clan kid rounded on him.

“Sasuke! We were ordered not to say anything!” the shadow clan guy exclaimed, sasuke raised an eyebrow.

“No, you guys were. I wasn’t there for that order. I wasn’t apart of it when you guys attacked naruto either. I should’ve helped, and i regret that a bit, so i’m making up for it now.” the uchiha boy, sasuke, said.

Kurama smirked a little, then frowned. “You said anbu people attacked him as in the anbu black ops? Do you have any idea why?” kurama asked this sasuke person. Sasuke thought about it.

“I thought i heard something about being ordered to take naruto, they wouldn’t give him a reason so he refused. Now, i think there’s only like 2 people that can order the anbu black ops…” sasuke traield off, kurama nodded.

“That would be danzo, and…”

“And the hokage” gyuki said, kurama sighed.

“I knew she was to ok about that necklace.” kurama growled, gyuki nodded.

“We should get the others, and confront her. Worst come to worse, we follow naruto’s scent.” gyuki advised, kurama nodded.

“Right, thank you… sasuke it was?” he asked, sasuke nodded. Kurama offered one back before running with gyuki.

It took a minute to get the others together, but soon enough the 9 of them were in one place- a small, kind of abandoned alley way. 

“So, we should go to the hokage, yes?” saiken said, kurama nodded.

“Yes.” he agreed, “did you guys find anything, a scent of naruto at all?” kurama asked, 6 of them shook their heads. Shukaku nodded.

“A trace of it, just a passing thing. It was closer to the mountains though.” he said, kurama nodded.

“Alright, if we have problems with the hokage then we’ll go there.” with that, they were running.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Naruto didn’t go back to sleep, though he was sure it would help. He didn’t know what time it was.

He thought he had been sitting there for a few hours, maybe. After a while, he saw a small light coming towards him, and suddenly the room was lit up. He scrunched up his eyes, slowly opening them.

The guy anbu from before, the guy whose mask he broke. 

“Well, if it isn’t the prisoner, up and… well not about are you?” he sneered, naruto glared, the pain in his leg was bad, but not completely awful.

The man had a sick gleam in his eyes. “The hokage gave me permission to break you how ever i want, and not just me, the other 4 will be here too, we’re going to make to pay.” 

“What did i even do?” naruto whispered, the guy sneered.

“You’re the reason the previous hokage and his wife died. We anbu were loyal to him, he was a good man. And you killed him. Now, we’ll make you beg for the same fate.” naruto couldn’t get another word in before a foot connected hard with his head, he fell over, crying out as he fell on his hurt leg.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Kurama snarled as he left the hokage’s building. She had just calmly said she didn’t know where naruto was, and that she didn’t care. Even though kurama could smell naruto in the room.

“Alright, so plan B?” shukaku said, kurama nodded.

“Let’s go, to the mountains then.” he agreed. They all followed, and soon, in no more than a minute, they were there. 

The mountain was impressive, the faces of all hokages on it. Kurama smelt him, naruto, strongly there. 

Kurama heard footsteps behind them, and turned to see the 11 there, the 1o that attacked naruto too, kurama growled. 

“What do you guys want?” gyuki asked, a little harshly.

The pink haired girl gulped, but stepped forward. “We want to help get him out, we realize that we did wrong… please let us help.” she said quietly, kurama sighed, but nodded.

“Kurama!” gyuki exclaimed, “you can’t be serious! They’re the ones who helped attack naruto!” he added, kurama sighed.

“I know, but we don’t have the time to fight them, or to argue about them not going. Just don’t get in my way.” kurama warned, all of the humans, and the bijuu, nodded.

With that, kurama ran where the scent was strongest, soon coming to a big, metal door. Kurama growled, the scent of naruto was so strong. He got ready, and before anyone could stop him, broke down the door. It flung inward, not quite off the hinges, he was inside a moment later. The inside of the door a big tunnel, kurama charged down it, following the scent of his mate.

After ten minutes of running, the passage opened to a big room, a prison. In the middle of it, on the ground, was naruto. Beaten and bloodied. He had cuts all across his body. Around him were 5 people, 3 men and two women. All with wicked gleams in their eyes.

But kurama only had his eyes on naruto, who had seen him come in. kurama growled low in his throat, causing the other 5 five to turn to him. 

Kurama stalked towards them, them backing up slowly. The others broke into the room, and kurama heard the pink haired girl’s gasp, but ignored it. He slowly bent down over naruto, now unguarded now.

“I knew you’d come.” naruto rasped out, kurama smiled down at him.

“Of course i did.” kurama agreed, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, gyuki and shukaku taking care of the 5(even though one of them could easily kill all five).

“Here, let me.” the pink girl said, from beside him. “I have experience with healing ninjutsu.” she explained, kurama sighed but nodded, staying close to naruto, it felt eerily familiar to a while ago after those four genin had attacked naruto. 

The pink haired girl was efficient, and worked fast. Kurama could see the wounds close as she went over them, it was amazing. Soon, she had worked her way down to his leg, the right one, which was… it looked bad. The pink haired girl sighed, but slowly cut the fabric away, ripping the entire leg of the pants off, the wound looked… bad.

She slowly worked, and at one point stopped, cleaning it out, and wrapping it. Naruto whined low(kurama could tell he was trying to fight it off). Finally, the leg was wrapped, and the pink haired girl was done. She sighed, but smiled genuinely. 

“I wish there was more i could do, but i’m still learning how to do this kind of thing. Keep him off the leg for at least a week, i’d recommend.” she said, kurama nodded.

“Thank you.” he said, and he meant it. Maybe these kids had helped with naruto getting captured, but they had realized they had done wrong and helped get him back.

Kurama slowly picked up naruto, holding him close. Naruto let his head fall against the bigger man’s chest. “Thanks, sakura.” naruto said, his voice still raspy. The pink haired girl, sakura, approached slowly, taking naruto’s hand in hers.

“Of course, naruto. I’m… i’m sorry that i let this happen… i didn’t know what was happening, i just followed shikamaru. I wish i could help you more.” sakura said, naruto smiled at her.

“It’s ok, you did what you thought was right.” naruto assured, sakura smiled but squeezed his hand once before putting it on his stomach, so it wasn’t hanging down.

“Alright, they’re taken care of.” gyuki said, approaching the small group, kurama nodded.

“Then we should get him out of here, i’ll stay with him until he’s healed, then i think we’ll have to have a talk with the hokage.” kurama said, gyuki nodded.

“Don’t do it without me.” naruto rasped, kurama blinked but looked down. Naruto smiled. “I have my own things i want to say to her.” he said, kurama nodded.

“Ok, now let’s get out of this hell hole.” kurama said, already starting to walk out of the cave, the other bijuu following. At the entrance, the teens that had followed him were there, well 3 of them. 

“I had a couple of the others go stand guard.” the shadow clan boy explained, “it should be clear out there.” he added, kurama nodded his thanks but kept walking. Outside, sure enough most of the teens were, but kurama ignored them, just clutched naruto close to himself.

It took a while, as he couldn’t run with the injured human in his arms, but kurama didn’t care. Right in that moment all he cared about was keeping naruto close. When, finally, they broke through the clearing of the house, kurama noticed the teens were still following them.

“I appreciate your help, but leave. He needs to rest, and have his family with him.” because kurama considered naruto one of them, no matter what anyone else thought. Naruto was sleeping in his arms by that point. 

“We just wanted to make sure he was ok.” the uchiha boy… sasuke kurama thought his name was.

“Well, he’ll be fine. Now, go away.” kurama said dismissively. He walked in side, leaving it open for the other bijuu. 

Kurama went straight up to his and naruto’s room, closing the door gently behind him. He placed naruto on his bed, before stripping the boy-he was filthy. 

He left for a moment to get clean rags and a bucket of warm-but-not-scalding-hot water. When he got back, the other bijuu were in the hallway, kurama wasn’t surprised. Naruto had warmed up to them all, even if it was mostly to kurama. 

“Is he actually ok, though?” gyuki asked quietly, kurama nodded.

“Yes, that sakura girl was quite skilled, we’ll just have to watch his leg, make sure it doesn’t get worse than it is.” kurama said, they all nodded, kurama smiled at them all. “He’ll be fine, guys. I’ll make sure of it.” they all nodded to that, kurama closed the door gently behind him, turning to the sleeping human in their bed. 

He cleaned him slowly and thoroughly. Cleaning everywhere he could, not pausing until he got to the bandaged leg, he slowly unwrapped it, ready to wrap it back up if it started bleeding again. Luckily, it didn’t the wound was nasty, red and swollen slightly, but otherwise not that bad. Cleaning it was an issue, for when he put pressure on it naruto’s leg jerked, so not only did he have to clean it, he had to keep naruto’s leg under control. 

But after that, naruto was clean. Kurama sighed, but got new bandages(which he had brought in with the water and clothes.) and wrapped the leg back up. Kurama only then noticed how thin naruto looked, not in a bad way. He was clearly defined, and clearly strong. But he was also clearly unhealthily skinny. Kurama made a silent vow to make sure naruto ate well from then on.

He put clean clothes on naruto then, he doubted naruto would like to wake up naked in bed. After that task was done, kurama realized that he couldn’t really do much more right then, so he silently crawled into bed with his mate, enjoying the presence of mind that his mate was safe and well in his arms.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Naruto woke the next day, a slight soreness in his leg, but he had had worse before. He also realized he wasn’t in that cave/dungeon anymore, he was in his and kurama’s room. He looked around the room, as memories from the night before came back. His eyes finally rested on kurama, who was still clearly deep in sleep. 

Naruto couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips as he stared at the fox. The man was amazing, is all he knew. He didn’t think he could love anyone more than him. Naruto, in that moment, was glad it was his right leg that was hurt, it meant he could snuggle closer, putting his right leg on top of his left, snuggling into kurama’s chest… he couldn’t even begin to describe how happy he was as he fell back asleep.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next time he woke up, it was in the near same position as when he first fell asleep. Only this time? He was completely on top of kurama… he couldn’t find it in him to be weirded out by the position. Kurama was awake too, slowly stroking his head. It felt obscenely good, naruto yawned, making him stop.

Naruto had to try harder than probably necessary to suppress a whine.

“Are you feeling ok?” kurama asked after a moment, the deep rumble in his chest felt amazing.

“Yeah, i’ll be good, i think… thank you, kurama. I knew you’d come.” naruto said quietly, kurama chuckled a little.

“Of course i did, i don’t wanna lose you, ever.” kurama whispered, naruto blushed slightly, but smiled all the same. 

After that there was a knock on the door, kurama growled but told whoever it was to come in.

Gyuki was the one to enter, carrying a tray of food, naruto could feel his mouth watering at it.

Naruto knew there was a lot to talk about, namely with the hokage. But for the moment… his life was amazing.

He’d never lose faith in these 9 amazing people, ever.


End file.
